From Rodney King to Tyre Nichols
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2023
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
The video of Tyre Nichols being fatally beaten by Memphis police officers was made public on Friday. How does this latest high-profile incident of police brutality echo the killing of George Floyd or the beating of Rodney King? And 30 years after the latter, what’s still standing in the way of police reform?
Guest: Joel Anderson, staff writer at Slate, host of Seasons 3 and 6 of Slow Burn.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey guys, it's Mimi Webb. I'm the new brand ambassador for Maybelline. Make up your |
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| 0:21.0 | Slate's Joel Anderson feels like it's so common to hear about black people being killed |
| 0:25.9 | by the police that he's not actually sure when he first heard the name Tyree Nichols. Tyree |
| 0:32.5 | was beaten by the cops in Memphis, Tennessee on January 7th. He died three days later. The |
| 0:38.4 | five officers who attacked him, they got fired and then indicted last week. |
| 0:43.6 | Them firing those officers was sort of the incident that made me look and say, |
| 0:48.7 | huh? Because it was remarkable. Yeah, yeah, they didn't usually happen like that. Like sometimes |
| 0:53.2 | it does, but often it doesn't. And that that was sort of remarkable. |
| 1:03.4 | Joel has covered a lot of deaths by police. There was Michael Brown and Ferguson, Freddie Gray |
| 1:09.3 | and Baltimore. Joel hosted a whole season of the Slow Burn podcast about Rodney King and the |
| 1:15.4 | riots that followed his assault back in 1991, which is why I wanted to talk to Joel now. |
| 1:24.2 | Thank you so much. Pastor Thomas and Bishop Thomas Bishop Williamson for allowing us to |
| 1:31.3 | be in your cathedral at this moment here in Memphis. About a week ago, Tyree's family got their |
| 1:40.2 | first glimpse of the video of the brutality that led to his death. And afterwards, they had this |
| 1:46.5 | press conference with their lawyer, Ben Crump, to describe what they'd seen. And what we saw |
| 1:53.7 | now, regrettably, it reminded us of Rodney King video, regrettably. And I like Rodney King, |
| 2:13.6 | Tyree dance of life. As Crump said this, you could hear a little murmur spread through the |
| 2:21.2 | crowd. And then Tyree's mother sagged her head as if she was unable to hold back a sob. |
| 2:29.6 | Well, I mean, Ben Crump has basically defended or represented the families of almost every notable |
| 2:41.0 | black death at the hands of police. Any name that's sort of the, you know, the say their name |
... |
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